Monday, 24 August 2015

Jeremiah and the Birds

He wasn’t sure if he was
the last man left or not. He hadn’t heard from any other living soul in about
45 full moons and Jeremiah wasn’t even sure what the current month would have
been called in the old days.It still felt warmish, so
it was probably August or September. Although that didn’t mean much now, it was
only when you shared events with others that the hours and days found some
significance.Jeremiah had stopped
feeling lonely when the birds had arrived, the first lot had come from the
north and settled in a field across the river.Whatever had happened to
the world, it had left Jeremiah and the birds to share the Earth. Jeremiah had
been in the vault at the University when it had happened. He used to go down
there to read or write on his lunch breaks as it was the only room where one
could find real peace and quiet.Perhaps he had been
anti-social, perhaps that is why he had survived when the others had perished.
His type of behaviour was a luxury – you needed other people around you to make
you feel that isolation was a reward of sorts. When you were on your own there
was no such thing as isolation – it just you and no one else.When the birds had arrived,
he had felt that the universe had sent him a message, that he hadn’t been
forgotten – here were other creatures to keep him company. Although the birds
were reluctant at first to come to his side of the river, he eventually tempted
them over with seeds he had found scattered in the forest.Once the birds felt safe on
Jeremiah’s side of the river, they started to arrive in their numbers. Some
built nests and raised families, then when the colder months arrived they all
left and headed off in different directions. Some to the north and some to the east.By the third year, Jeremiah
looked forward to their arrival. He set up little areas to help them build
their nests, he piled high the seeds he had collected through the dark winter
and he sat watching the heavens for the return of his friends.It was while he was
observing a little bird pick up leaf and head off into the trees that it gave
him an idea. By now the birds and their chicks had grown accustomed to
Jeremiah’s presence and almost treated him like he was one of their own.He coaxed some of the birds
into a little hut he had built. They were allowed to come and go as they needed
but at night they tended to settle down and sleep in the hut.Jeremiah knew that the
birds started to leave around the eighth month of the year – or what he thought
was the eighth month – so he would hand feed each of the little birds in the
hut. On each one he would write a note and attach it to their legs, the way
people had done with pigeons in the old days. It didn’t seem to harm or
disturbed the birds.When he felt the time was
right, he took the birds up to the highest hill and released them one by one.
One or two returned to the hut below but most of them flew off either to the
north or the east.Jeremiah watched and hoped
as his little friends flew in to the air.On each note he had
written.

‘My name is Jeremiah and I
may be the last human alive. I am living three days walk from what was the big
city. If you find this, write where you are on the other side of the paper as
the birds will return to me, and I will come looking for you. If you know where
I am, then come and find me. I am just another lost soul.’For the rest of his years,
Jeremiah watched and waited. The birds returned every year but none had another
soul’s writing on their papers.The sad thing was that a
few days before Jeremiah died of a broken heart, in the forest one of his birds
had built a nest on its return, too high for Jeremiah to see. On its leg was a
note,‘I am coming to look for
you. Stay where you are.’

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Stealing Moses

Thank You, Mr F.

About Me

I was born in the West Coast of Scotland - a beautiful part of the world. Grew up in Paris, France and Woodstock, New York. I studied writing at college and gained a Masters. I wrote a short film 'Stealing Moses' which was selected by the British Urban Film Festival, 2015 and was supported by Channel 4. I have been selected to pitch at BAFTA, twice. I trained through TAPS at Emmerdale and The Bill.